The Ghost in the Job Search Machine

This post is part of a series of practical advice to help you stand out in the job market, from navigating the rise of fractional work to dealing with frustrating trends like ghosting in recruitment. In today’s post, we’ll dive into why ghosting has become so common in the hiring process, especially from recruiters, and how you can take action when it happens.

Feel free to post your own observations and reactions in the chat below.

The Rise of Ghosting

I was recently talking with HR Professional Katy Duke Chamberlin about ghosting. "Ghosting has become a frustrating norm in the modern job search," she said. "Staying patient, persistent, and professional in your follow-ups can help turn silence into opportunity." 

Whether you’ve been the one ghosted or are the recruiter on the other side, you’ll find this advice helpful.

This year, several staffing recruiters stopped communicating after engaging in intense discussions about opportunities, or simply didn't respond to follow-up inquiries. Staffing recruiters are under tremendous pressure to fill roles quickly, and a backlog of outstanding roles to fill can prevent them from touching base with all the people they contact for each role. Generally, company recruiters seem less likely to engage in this type of activity because they address longer-term employment needs, and understand the negative impact that ghosting can have on their company brand. 

There really is no excuse for hiring managers and companies who ghost candidates after a first round interview.

Why Ghosting Happens

There can be dozens of reasons why you get ghosted; the recruiter is overwhelmed, the client priorities changed, there is a high volume of applicants for the role, job requirements were never locked down, or another more qualified candidate got the role. A staffing recruiter I partnered with on an opportunity recently reached out to me after months of silence. "The role had been shelved by the client," she said, and "would I be interested in pursuing it once more?"

And the Wall Street Journal just published a story that just adds to the confusion, "Ghost Jobs: Fake Job Postings Are Becoming a Real Problem."

What You Can Do When Ghosted

Because you can never predict the cause for perceived ghosting, I recommend that you patiently and persistently push for responses when communications dry up. Set up a respectful cadence of communication attempts--they might have very good reasons for not previously replying. Here's an example of a simple, action-oriented email:

"Hi Emma--I hope everything is going well for you. I haven't heard from you in two weeks about the [open role] and I am still very interested in it. Do you have an update?‍ ‍

If another candidate was chosen, I would greatly appreciate any feedback you could share on why I may not have been selected. I'm always looking for ways to improve and any insights would be extremely valuable.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you."

Also, keep a record of all your communication attempts, including dates, details of conversations, as well as received responses. This will help you track patterns, stay organized, and even analyze what methods or tones are most effective in getting replies.

I used Excel for years to track pursuits, and recently converted to a Customer Relationship Management platform (Free, of course) that I also use for business development. This enables me to track of all of my pursuits, and make notes on the outcomes, including when ghosting occurs and who is doing it.

Key Takeaways

To sum up what I covered in this post:

• Understand the reasons for ghosting: Ghosting can happen due to many reasons—it's not always personal.

• Be persistent, but professional: Keep following up respectfully.

• Use clear, action-oriented communication: Craft concise follow-up emails and politely request updates.

• Track your communications: Document all your outreach efforts and identify patterns in responses.

• Be patient and strategic: Adapt to the recruiting process with patience and persistence.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue. Have you ever been ghosted by a recruiter, hiring manager, or job applicant? How did you handle it? Share your experiences in the comments below, and let's continue the conversation.

In the next installments of this series, I'll dig in to emergence of Generative AI and how you can use it to you advantage on a daily basis.